Report Claims Beats Acquisition to Bring "Culturally Aware" Managers to Apple, Manage Subscription Music Transition

[grumple]

Hip-hop is some of the most tired, un-fresh, nothing-new music genres in existence. i wish the genre was more musically innovative, but really, hip hop is the music genre for music-listeners who, actually, are not that into cutting-edge, innovative music. Hell, jazz is more creative than hip hop.

One could argue that hip-hop is the ONLY music genre with any innovation these days. New technology inspires new forms of music. Hip-Hop was the first form to use the new recording -technologies of the 20th century, not as merely a transmitter of music, but AS an instrument, an in that sense it was totally revolutionary and ahead of it's time. Whether you like it or not, you cannot deny its influence.
In a sense all forms of modern musical culture people listen to today; electronic, dance, pop and rock have their roots in hip hop, one way or the other. The very sequencing and recording software that Apple and others sells or gives away to musicians has, the very tools through which all new music is made, in a sense , been technically inspired by hip-hop.

I will give you one very clear example.

If you use and mix loops in garage band or logic, you are using techniques created and inspired by hip-hop. That is a fact.

What you create may or may not be any good, but you cannot deny hip-hop's influence in that regard.

 

[StuddedLeather]

MACKLEMORE LYRICS

"Jimmy Iovine"

You make yourself look so foolish. . . You should do minimal research before attempting to look cool buddy.

BUYANOVSKY: There's a song on your album called "Jimmy Iovine"—an angry track all about the pitfalls of the major record label deal. Why call him out specifically?

MACKLEMORE: He's the most visible major label president in the game. I've actually never even met him—it's a fictional story, based on the experiences Ryan and I have had the last couple of years being courted by these labels. Nothing against your boy Jimmy. I'm sure he's a good dude.

Lol.

http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/macklemore-ryan-lewis-the-heist#_

 

[daveofiveo]

EXACTLY! ! !

My faith on this forum has been restored. Thank you friend!

Agree... there is so much hate going on in this thread. It is a business decision. Beats is a trusted brand name (right or wrong) and Dr. Dre is one of the most important producers in hip-hop. Throw some ducats at Dre and whoever this white guy is and you have tacked on some validity to iTunes and the audio of iDevices. We can argue until we are blue in the face about whether Beats makes a quality audio product (my verdict=no) but the deal makes sense.

 

[osofast240sx]

Hip-hop is some of the most tired, un-fresh, nothing-new music genres in existence. i wish the genre was more musically innovative, but really, hip hop is the music genre for music-listeners who, actually, are not that into cutting-edge, innovative music. Hell, jazz is more creative than hip hop.

To be fair hip-hop music uses music from every single genre known to man. And FYI deeply rooted in jazz ,it is possible that you were exposed to just some bad hip-hop lol

 

[Amnak]

I think people are taking this acquisition harshly. It's not like Jimmy or Dre coming in changes the company in any way they don't decided design or direction in anyway. As far as cultural leverage it gives them a lot especially with those in a younger age group. If they even said speakers in the new iPhone are produced by beats it gives the phone a cool factor , a true audiophile knows better but mass public does not. I think people should come to grips Apple has been slack in there image lately where google and Samsung have been aggressive. For example I just saw a show where there were 3 or 4 google play and plain google search commercials not a single one for anything Apple. The fashion brand acquisitions might be the best thing for Apple, I remember when Apple felt slightly exclusive and maybe they hope to reimagine that; they have never been one to chase a fad or run to the bottom line.

 

[HD303]

I'm going to go ahead and assume you're not a Millennial. As a Millennial, I can assure you, both Nike and Beats are extremely "what's happening" in our world. I don't have a male friend who doesn't wear knee high Nike socks or have Nike slides and a pair of Beats. Most of those same guys have iPhones.

You're kind of proving the point.

As a Millennial, you're old. Generation Z is where Apple is focused. Now get the hell off my lawn.

 

[Karma*Police]

Still doesn't make sense. Why not just hire away the managers you want rather than buy the entire company?

They didn't buy Compaq to get Tim Cook.

That's what I was thinking. Makes no sense to spend $3.2 BILLION dollars for two individuals. Heck, they lured away 2 CEOs for FAR less.

 

[osofast240sx]

Agree... there is so much hate going on in this thread. It is a business decision. Beats is a trusted brand name (right or wrong) and Dr. Dre is one of the most important producers in hip-hop. Throw some ducats at Dre and whoever this white guy is and you have tacked on some validity to iTunes and the audio of iDevices. We can argue until we are blue in the face about whether Beats makes a quality audio product (my verdict=no) but the deal makes sense.

if beats made a quality audio product it would not be appreciated by the masses and it would be a waste. Instead they built a brand that appeal to the senses. They look good, feel good and provide a sound in which happens to be how 90% of the people on this earth listen to music. Also we have to give credit where credit is due they built this market for headphones over $200. Beats to this day is the most successful wearables company in existence.

----------

That's what I was thinking. Makes no sense to spend $3.2 BILLION dollars for two individuals. Heck, they lured away 2 CEOs for FAR less.

You got to do your homework it's not too individuals. With that logic google spent 3.2 billion for one guy.

 

[dampfnudel]

If this was Samsung instead of Apple people would be (rightly so) laughing their arses off. Pretty sad and pathetic that Apple thinks they need to buy cool. And what is this culturally aware nonsense? Make a great product and people will buy it. Don't pander to specific races/demographics.

Making a great product doesn't always translate into success. Apple is hoping having Beats on board in addition to a larger screen will convince teens (their parents), African-Americans & people in Europe/Asia to buy an iPhone 6 instead of a Galaxy S5 or S6 (next year).

 

[Trubador]

EXACTLY! ! !

My faith on this forum has been restored. Thank you friend!

Exactly, is right!

...A year later, Klasco, Lamar and Robert Brunner, a former Apple designer who had done the industrial design for the headphones, met with Monster near its headquarters in Brisbane, California. When Monster finally agreed to manufacture and distribute the headphones for Beats, Klasco didn't push for a royalty or slice of ownership that might have meant millions should the Apple deal go through. Instead, he accepted a cash payment from SLS that was $10,000 less than the price he had initially quoted Lamar...

link

Robert Brunner is an American industrial designer who was the Director of Industrial Design for Apple Computer from 1989 to 1997… He was succeeded by Jonathan Ive in 1997. He claims that while with Apple, he hired Ive three times.

link

link

Now, I may question whether or not the acquisition in total is worth $3.2B (Iovine, Dre, Beats Headphone, Beats Streaming Service, etc…), but the acquisition in general is not bad at all, in my eyes.

 

[ghost187]

Yesssss the deal has 30% chance of NOT going through.

 

[goft20]

Hip-hop is some of the most tired, un-fresh, nothing-new music genres in existence. i wish the genre was more musically innovative, but really, hip hop is the music genre for music-listeners who, actually, are not that into cutting-edge, innovative music. Hell, jazz is more creative than hip hop.

You clearly only listen to the music on the radio...there is good music in every genre..you just have to look for it...have you heard of Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Logic, Pusha T? Its like me saying that rock is only composed of Nickelback and Coldplay or country revolves around Taylor Swift...

 

[Rogifan]

Why shouldn't he throw race into this? You did.

How did I do that?

 

[buzzardo]

In regards to Jimmy, you clearly have no clue who he is or what connections in the music business he has. This is WHY Apple is paying for the brand.

I get that some of you don't like Hip-Hop, I too don't care for it but it's asinine to make remarks when you don't know much about the parties involved.

He is old. The products he makes are junk. If you think adding a pop personality to Apple would be beneficial then they should give the job to Kim Kardashian.

 

[Rogifan]

Yep most people on this forum do not have a clue the designer of the beats headphones was the one who hired Jony Ive.

But he doesn't work for Beats, so presumably he wouldn't be part of the deal. Unless you're suggesting that the if the guy who hired Jony Ive at Apple is working with Beats then Beats must be worthwhile acquiring?

----------

Making a great product doesn't always translate into success. Apple is hoping having Beats on board in addition to a larger screen will convince teens (their parents), African-Americans & people in Europe/Asia to buy an iPhone 6 instead of a Galaxy S5 or S6 (next year).

Wait, so all these Beats fans who currently don't use Apple products will now think Apple is cool and buy their products because they own Beats or a Beats logo is on the device? Didn't seem to work out that well for HTC or HP.

 

[LastQuadrant]

Culturally aware of the functionally and musically illiterate. I think Apple is making a big mistake dealing with these guys, especially Dr. Dre. Iovine i could tolerate in small doses but I couldn't tolerate Dr. Dre for more than 10 seconds. I think he's just someone that shouldn't be in the music industry. I don't have anything he's worked on and I don't plan on owning any of it.

 

[wlossw]

oh great, loving the way Tim Cooks is piloting Apple to some douche, image obsessed boutique! Damn it, just make magical products and most of us fanboys will be happy

PS cant wait for the Dr Dre Macbook, featuring the Snoop doggy keyboard - oh please kill me now!
Image

take my money.

 

[LastQuadrant]

Wouldn't partnering with a real sound company like Bose be a more logical choice? Apple, do you want to procure quality sound designs, or gimmicks? Apple is possibly making this move because they've lost a good chunk of the hip-hop/rap generation to the Samsung/Android phones

BOSE (Better Off w/ Something Else) is more of a marketing company as well. The REAL companies that make the serious headphones are companies like Audeze, Sennheiser, Grado and a small handful of others. I put Beats and Bose on the same level of BS. They both cater to the "low fi" masses that don't place sound quality as a top priority when buying audio products. They both make VERY artificial sounding headphones. As the market is now starting to take sound quality more seriously with these high res formats coming out, Beats and Bose sound like crap.

The real high end headphones cost far more than what both Beats and Bose have to offer.

I think the headphone market is saturated with too many products as is. It's just that Beats and Bose know how to market their products to the masses.

 

[springsup]

3 points:

1. This is exactly what I feared would happen once Steve Jobs died; that Apple would feel the pressure to live up to the "fashion brand" label that their critics stick on them.

The iPhone's success was not because of celebrity endorsements or fashion status. It was successful because it was an outstanding piece of technology which was incredibly useful to them. Apple also make products which are more elegant and beautiful than their competition which also gives them a styling edge, but that's never been the focus. Apple could start making beautifully-designed fridges and washing machines, but they don't because they don't have any amazing technology that would truly make the thing better.

To me, Apple is not a company that makes the same-old-tat with a prettier shell; Apple is a company that makes better products which also have prettier shells, as if to rub it in to the established players that they aren't trying hard enough.

2. I shudder at the term "culturally aware". It implies that others at the company are not, or do not have to be "culturally aware". I've worked at lots of companies who made poor products, and I've always been shocked how some people developing the product simply don't think about the human being using them. Design isn't difficult - the thing using the product is another human being. Just imagine yourself trying to use the product and you'll quickly spot where it falls short. Once you start delegating empathy and caring about the product to the sole domain of "designers" or "culturally-aware managers", your products become total crap.

I've worked at a lot of big companies all over the world, and this is the pattern I've noticed at every single one of them. The people building the product can have good ideas about how to improve its usability if you probe them, but they just shut up because they're not a designer or they're not "culturally aware" or whatever buzzword you want to stick on it.

Everywhere I've worked, I've always been the most devoted, most committed person at the company and it's always been obvious to everybody; what's more is that they've always loved the products I made and I've actually inspired other people there to also wake up and start giving a damn. You don't need to be labelled a "designer" to be a designer; all you need to be is a human being who can empathise with other human beings.

3. I have always maintained that Apple was not a fashion brand; that it was a technology brand whose mission was very simple: to build the best products. I was wrong. Now it seems that they are absolutely happy to become a "hipster" brand. This really is a sea-change for Apple. This company is going to be absolutely unrecognisable in 5 years; the ship is changing course. Apple (and Tim Cook) are going to be more vulnerable over the next 5 years than they have in the last 20. Apple are sounding more and more like a conventional corporation crushed under the weight of their own hype. They can't find the winning formula which makes magic any more, so they're getting desperate.

Meanwhile, Microsoft are looking more and more like a mashup of Apple and Google, which is very interesting indeed.

 

[jimbobb24]

I don't get it

This does not seem like a very good aquisition and supports my belief that Tim Cook is basically a modern manager - he lacks vision. But he clearly has managerial expertise that is amazing.

I also don't understand people saying Beats would make Apple cool. Apple is the highest rated brand in the world. It cannot be made cool by anything because it is the most respected brand in the world. Its like Coke buying Shasta or something. It might be a good aquisition but it does not make them any cooler since they already rank number 1.

Now the market is a big place with lots of submarkets. People here seem quick to throw around accusations of racism, but it could be Apple ran the numbers and saw that they are under-represented in the African American community and has been trying to solve that market penetration problem. That is one very reasonable theory about what they are doing, expanding into a market you are not reaching is probably worth 3.2 billion easily. Or maybe they are not underrepresented and it is something else completely and all the speculation is just gibberish. Who knows.

 

[jdbr]

Beats: culturally aware; you must be joking!

I'm not so sure that Beats can offer much in the line of culture, if they do it would probably be a pretty narrow definition of culture!
The other thing Beats can't do is produce high quality, good sounding headphones; I have never read a good review of Beats headphones!

 

[IJ Reilly]

How did I do that?

Uhhh...

Ok I think just about vomited my dinner. So basically Apple is turning into a fashion company and using Beats to try and inject "cool" into the company, while also pandering to African-Americans and teenagers. #vomit

So I will ask again, but this time less subtly: was Apple "pandering" to white people over the age of 50 when they made such a big deal about carrying the Beatles catalog?

 

[LastQuadrant]

I think people are taking this acquisition harshly. It's not like Jimmy or Dre coming in changes the company in any way they don't decided design or direction in anyway. As far as cultural leverage it gives them a lot especially with those in a younger age group. If they even said speakers in the new iPhone are produced by beats it gives the phone a cool factor , a true audiophile knows better but mass public does not. I think people should come to grips Apple has been slack in there image lately where google and Samsung have been aggressive. For example I just saw a show where there were 3 or 4 google play and plain google search commercials not a single one for anything Apple. The fashion brand acquisitions might be the best thing for Apple, I remember when Apple felt slightly exclusive and maybe they hope to reimagine that; they have never been one to chase a fad or run to the bottom line.

Why does Apple even need to go after the headphone market? It's saturated. On the high end you have Sennheiser, Grado, Audeze and a couple of others that make the seriously nice products that cater to the serious listeners.

I see Beats as a fad more than the norm. Bose used to be a big name in the audio industry, but they have lost a lot of their cache in the audio for the masses.

The problem with the masses is that they don't know how to judge good audio. Example is your typical rap/hip hop album doesn't even use REAL musical instruments, it's all pretty much artificial noises. I feel sorry for these kids in a way because they are looking up to rappers like they have something valuable to offer, when all they do is promote illiteracy in both general education and music and the rest of the garbage they stand for.

The kids need to grow up listening to the master musicians of the world instead of buying into the current pop culture. It's gone so downhill compared to 30 or 40 years ago. These new acts aren't producing any "classic/timeless" music. What a shame.

 

[StuddedLeather]

He is old. The products he makes are junk. If you think adding a pop personality to Apple would be beneficial then they should give the job to Kim Kardashian.

How are the two comparable friend?

I never said adding a pop personality would be beneficial to Apple. I've never implied that notion either. Apple IS arguably the leading technology company in Pop Culture today (they don't need anyONE to help with that). So that fact alone kills your logic.

However, I'll play along.

then they should give the job to Kim Kardashian

You want to know why they wouldn't give the job to her, because she doesn't have ANYTHING that would make Apple more profitable.

Jimmy Iovine, for the most part, is bringing contracts and a subscription service that Apple no longer has to build from the ground up. That alone is enough, but they will also get a nice portable headphone product too. That's why this deal is happening. Mr. Iovine has a lot of connections in the music industry (nice perk for Apple here). He also owns a record label with artist that range from The All-American Rejects to Kendrick Lamar. From Eninem to Lady Gaga. Zedd to U2 etc. This isn't about Jimmy or Dre but about the brand and the connects these guys will bring.

Lol Kim Kardashian. What exactly is she famous for again? At least you can research Jimmy and find out what he's done and who's careers he has at the palm of his hands.

 

[scottsjack]

if beats made a quality audio product it would not be appreciated by the masses and it would be a waste. Instead they built a brand that appeal to the senses. They look good, feel good and provide a sound in which happens to be how 90% of the people on this earth listen to music.

You are so right. Like the music quality from both Apple hardware and Apple downloads "good enough" with a slick patina has been Apple's music product philosophy for some time.

The people running Apple, whether its really old Tim or never smiles Jony are definitely out of style. Who but a bunch of wall flowers would think that hip-hop trash and boomy-bass headphones are the cool thing.